Swofford: 'welcome dialogue on what's best for college football'

Updated: November 18, 2008, 5:04 PM ET

ESPN.com news services

President-elect Barack Obama would like a college football playoff. The BCS' response? We'll listen, but ...

BCS coordinator John Swofford responded to a stepped-up playoff push by Obama that was broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday. President-elect Obama also lobbied for a college football playoff in an interview with ESPN that was broadcast the night before the presidential election during halftime of Monday Night Football.

"First of all I want to congratulate newly elected President Obama and I am glad he has a passion for college football like so many other Americans," Swofford said in a statement. "For now, our constituencies -- and I know he understands constituencies -- have settled on the current BCS system, which the majority believe is the best system yet to determine a national champion while also maintaining the college football regular season as the best and most meaningful in sports."

Swofford added: "We certainly respect the opinions of president-elect Obama and welcome dialogue on what's best for college football."

Obama said he will use his influence to create such a system.

"If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system," he told reporter Steve Kroft.

According to Obama's proposed system, eight teams would play over three rounds to settle the national champion.

"It would add three extra weeks to the season," he said at the conclusion of a wide-ranging interview. "You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."

Texas coach Mack Brown said he's a big fan of Obama's idea.

"Send the best eight teams and let them play it off," Brown said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "There's a lot of good teams that are going to be left out of the BCS this year. What I would welcome is more conversation [about changing the BCS system]. I really wish we could hammer out some ideas and get it down to what's workable ... whether we do it now or three or four years from now. In most years, there are going to be six to 10 teams better than the others and it's tough to say who is best without a playoff."

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has an even grander idea -- a 64-team playoff.



"I don't think there's much of an answer unless you get to an expanded playoff system. If you went to a 64-team playoff, it would take care of itself," Leach said, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. "As it is now, if you're in a real weak league, there's going to be guys who can circle two, maybe three, games on their schedule, play well, then play mediocre and still run the table. There's just more margin of error there."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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